The Sesame Workshop is receiving criticism on whether they responded to Kevin Clash’s underage sex allegations in a timely fashion as the initial allegations were first brought to the network’s attention way back in June.
“When working around children, my feeling would be to always exercise on the side of caution and protect the children first and foremost,” a source close to the scandal told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. The source added that letting Clash, the voice behind the iconic Muppets character Elmo, keep working during the network’s internal investigation was “below the standard.”
In a Nov. 12 statement, Sesame Workshop confirmed they received communications in June from Sheldon Stephens, then 23, saying he and Clash had had sex when Stephens was 16, below the age of consent in New York, where the relations had allegedly taken place.
“We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action. We met with the accuser twice and had repeated communication with him,” Sesame Workshop said in the statement. “We met with Kevin, who denied the accusation. We also conducted a thorough investigation and found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated. Although this was a personal relationship unrelated to the workplace, our investigation did reveal that Kevin exercised poor judgment and violated company policy regarding our Internet usage and he was disciplined.”
Sesame Workshop’s rep did not respond to a request for comment on FOX411’s story. However, a company insider told the news organization they were only aware of one alleged relationship with a minor, and that the internal investigation took place during the summer before production recommenced in September. The source said Clash was not put on formal leave during the internal investigation. However, critics say this issue is perplexing given that his job is in children’s education.
“There is no question that as soon as there was serious, documented allegations Kevin Clash should have been removed from working around children,” crisis management expert and CEO of 5WPR, Ronn Torossian said to FOX411. “That said, lawyers could have advised that Clash may have had a claim against ‘Sesame Street’ if the allegations were false.”
Stuart Slotnick, a partner with Ingersoll & Rooney P.C, said that although Sesame Workshop conducted their own investigation and found the claims to be unsubstantiated, the question of why they didn’t suspend Clash when they first heard the initial claim is significant.
“This may be more of a crisis PR issue for ‘Sesame Street’ than a legal issue,” Slotnick said. “First, the relationships have taken place years ago, and it is not as if now the allegations are that ‘Sesame Street’ knew this was happening, and that they knew they had an employee that was a predator, and did nothing about the situation.”
New York-based attorney John Lynch stressed that this incident called for the balancing of several interests, including the rights of the employee, potential harm to others, and protection of the brand’s reputation. “It would be imprudent to take disciplinary action against the employee based on an accusation alone,” he said. “Here the accusation was from the past, and did not involve any work-related activity, so ‘Sesame Street’ had the luxury of being able to investigate before taking disciplinary action.”